Vol*ta"ic (?), a. [Cf.
F. voltaïque, It. voltaico.]
1. Of or
pertaining to Alessandro Volta, who first devised apparatus for developing electric
currents by chemical action, and established this branch of electric science; discovered by Volta; as, voltaic electricity.
2.
Of or pertaining to voltaism, or voltaic electricity; as, voltaic induction; the voltaic arc.
&fist; See the Note
under Galvanism.
Voltaic arc, a luminous arc, of intense brilliancy, formed between carbon points as electrodes by the passage of a
powerful voltaic current. -- Voltaic
battery, an apparatus variously
constructed, consisting of a series of plates or pieces of dissimilar metals, as copper and zinc, arranged in pairs, and subjected to the action
of a saline
or acid solution, by which a current of electricity is generated whenever the two poles, or ends of the series, are connected by a conductor; a galvanic battery. See Battery, 4.
(b), and Note. -- Voltaic circuit. See under Circuit. --
Voltaic couple or element, a single pair
of the connected plates of a battery. -- Voltaic
electricity. See
the Note under Electricity. -- Voltaic pile, a kind of voltaic battery consisting
of alternate disks of dissimilar metals,
separated by moistened cloth or paper. See
5th Pile. -- Voltaic protection of metals, the protection of a metal exposed to the corrosive action of sea water,
saline or acid liquids, or the like, by
associating it with a metal which
is positive to it, as when iron is
galvanized, or coated with zinc.
Hear it pronounced